It all started with the home game against FC Köln (0-1) in the middle of March when the Werkself played in a cream white special shirt. The limited edition shirt was sold out within a few hours of going on sale. The proceeds from the 2,000 shirts went to Ukraine aid locally in Leverkusen. In cooperation with the City of Leverkusen, the community foundation allocated the funds to regionally active bodies. The joint derby shirt campaign involving Bayer 04, Barmenia and JAKO was just one of many activities where the Werkself made a stand for peace.
In addition, shirts and jackets from the away game at Bayern Munich (1-1), signed by Bayer 04 players Jonathan Tah and Florian Wirtz, were auctioned. The four-figure proceeds went to the donation fund at the Leverkusen community foundation.
Fan groups and ultras have got involved in recent weeks. Practical donations, including from Bayer 04 members of staff, plus all sorts of relief supplies have been collected and then transported to Ukraine with trucks and vans in several runs.
And the relief effort continues: In the last home game against Hertha Berlin (2-1) the Nordkurve12 Fan club again collected monetary donations in four figure sums to be used for purchasing supplies for Ukraine. On Good Friday, in liaison with the Workers' Samaritan Association (ASB), these will be taken to the Polish Ukrainian border to be used to support medical transport.
Up to now, around 1,000 Ukrainian citizens, mostly women and children, have arrived in Leverkusen. They are being looked after by the City and private individuals. Leverkusen is currently preparing for the arrival of more refugees. The sports hall on Görresstraße, in the immediate vicinity of the BayArena, is to be converted into emergency accommodation. The primary aim is to provide accommodation for the refugees and give them clothing, food and daily essentials but also to ensure integration into kindergarten and school life.
Bayer 04 is organising the integration of Ukrainian schoolchildren into the Bayer 04 Soccer School and the ‘Fußball bewegt’ campaigns. This gives the youngsters the opportunity to get involved in regular physical activity with the Black and Reds.
Four Bayer 04 players are in action at the 35th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations being played in Morocco from 21 December to 18 January 2026: Eliesse Ben Seghir for the hosts, Edmond Tapsoba with Burkina Faso, Ibrahim Maza for Algeria and Christian Kofane with Cameroon. Updates on the AFCON matches involving Werkself players...
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After being nominated for the Bundesliga Goal of the Year 2025, Martin Terrier's wonderful strike for the opener against FC Köln is now also up for selection for the ARD Sportschau Goal of the Month award for December 2025. Bayer 04 fans have until 19:00 CET on 10 January to vote for the French forward.
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After a break of almost two weeks, the Bayer 04 Women begin preparing for games in 2026 on Sunday. Bayer04.de provides an overview of the dates at the start of the second half of the season.
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Rüdiger Vollborn has been at the club for 40 years, he holds the record number of Bundesliga appearances for the club (401) and is the only Bayer 04 player to have won both the UEFA Cup (1988) and the DFB Pokal (1993). And the Berliner stayed with the Werkself after ending his impressive playing career as he worked as a goalkeeping coach for the following nine years. Vollborn now works under the Bayer Cross as a fan liaison officer and club archivist. Since February 2021, the personalised Black and Red lexicon takes Werkself fans under the heading of 'Rudi recounts...' on a brief trip through the history of Bayer 04 every month…
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